The United States Federal Judiciary: A Perilous Gerontocracy

The federal judiciary was first established in 1789, but the more concerning statistic regarding the age of the federal judiciary is this: the median age of sitting federal judges is 68. But even this data point belies the severity of the issue, because federal judges are given lifetime tenure. Federal judges often remain in their seats well past the average U.S. retirement age. For example, Judge Wesley E. Brown served on the bench until he died at the ripe old age of 104. More recently, Judge Jack Weinstein served on the bench until he retired in 2020 at the age of 98. In total, approximately 66% of federal judges are 65 or older, and approximately 33% of judges are 75 or older. Perhaps the most damning statistic of all is that more than nine out of ten U.S. District Court Judges die within a year of retiring fully. This post was originally published on the Cardozo Journal of Equal Rights and Social Justice website on February 6, 2023. The original post can be accessed via the Archived Link button above

Policy Map and MedlinePlus for creating Visual Materials for Underserved Populations in Philadelphia

Low health literacy has a direct impact on the health outcomes of non and low-English speaking Populations. This poster showcases the result of a collaboration between the Library, Visual Design Communication and Occupational Therapy to address specific health literacy and access issues in Philadelphia. These projects included traditional health literacy materials such as flyers and brochures, but also innovative materials such as phone applications, kit boxes for social support programs, graphic novels, advertising campaigns, and community interactive murals. These were created to address the needs of a variety of populations ranging from children with asthma, children living with trauma, teenagers with mental health concerns, night shift workers’ health disparities, accessibility on public transit, and caregivers of people with dementia within the Hispanic population

Occupational Design, Visual Communication Design, and Academic Commons Collaborate for Graphic Health Literacy in Philadelphia

Occupational therapy (OT) maximizes health,well-being, and quality of life for all people. Visual Communication Design (VCD) enables people to process and communicate information through the design of objects, environments, and interactions. Gutman Library’s mission is to work collaboratively with the university community to ensure that students successfully achieve institutional learning outcomes. VCD students collaborated with second-year OT students to address the prompt, ‘How might we improve health literacy in Philadelphia?

Graduate Occupational Therapy Students: Communication and Research Preferences from Three University Libraries

Library liaisons from three universities distributed an anonymous survey to graduate occupational therapy students to gauge preferred methods of communication when conducting research. This article discusses three findings: whom the students prefer to turn to when seeking research assistance, which methods of communication students prefer, and how long students spend searching before asking for assistance. From 193 responses, the liaisons reasoned that students prefer consulting with their peers before seeking help from librarians or faculty or instructors and they 2 prefer assistance face-to-face. Additionally, the majority are willing to research from 30 minutes to 1 hour before seeking research help